Adventists Health Fair gets positive response from Community Members

Approximately two hundred persons from the communities of Marverly, Hughenden and Drewsland, the immediate community surrounding the Washington Gardens SDA Church, benefitted from a Community Outreach and Health Fair, which was organized by the church. It was the third consecutive year of the outreach event which continues to see more community members attending with every passing year.

Health Ministries Director of the church, Kerrian Christie, said the outreach program was organized by the Community Services and Health Ministries Departments along with Ken Nelson, Interest Coordinator of the church.

“All three ministries complement each other and we worked together to ensure success,” Ms. Christie said.

Christie said that in planning the event, the team looked at the needs of the community and didn’t just plan it from a health perspective to have doctors and nurses only but they did it with other services in mind.

There were representatives from the National Housing Trust (NHT), Registrar General Department (RGD), the Tax Office, the Citizen Security Justice Programme (CSJP) which has been in the community from 2001 as well as the Child Protection & Family Services Agencies (CPFSA).

Christie said the response from the community was amazing. “Apart from blood tests, we had the Heart people here and HIV tests were done and because this was totally free, the people came out and took advantage of this.”

Team Leader at the Child Protection and Family Service Agency, Jean Duhaney, was glad for the opportunity to come and share with the people of the community and to educate them. She shared with those who attended, how to identify if their children are being sexually abused and where to seek the necessary support if that ever became necessary.

“Child protection is everybody’s business. It’s not just for one organization, it’s for everyone,” Duhaney said. She thanked the Washington Gardens Church for the work it is doing in the community and was happy the forum was created, allowing her to address the citizens.

Community Services Leader of the church, Adrianna Johnson, said the church continues to make a positive impact in the community as every year the Health Expo put on by the church keeps getting better.

“This is something we have been doing for the last three years and every year it gets bigger and bigger,” Johnson said.

Paula Townsend from the community did her blood pressure and vision testing and discovered for the first time that her blood pressure was low.

“I didn’t know that my blood count was so low, and I didn’t know that I had lost so much weight too,” Paula said. “If I didn’t come here, I wouldn’t know what is happening,” added Paula.

Keisha Esty from the Drewsland Community was happy and pleased with how she was treated at the Health Expo.

This was her third year attending the Health Fair and she had high commendation for the church on what it was doing for the community.

“I always access the services that this church provides to the people and the community appreciates it lot,” said Keisha.

“I would like to say a big thanks to the Seventh-day Adventist Church for making it possible for so many people to do so many things without paying a dollar,” she added.

The Washington Gardens SDA Church, located at 41 Headley Avenue, is celebrating its 60th Anniversary.

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